First step

The southern stretch of MacArthur Boulevard, with its
vacant buildings, giant parking lots, obnoxious signage, and abundance of
payday-loan stores and auto-parts shops, has long topped the list of
grievances from concerned constituents.

“I get a lot of angry phone calls and a lot of
nasty notes,” says Yeager, who has represented much of the commercial
corridor for the last decade.

That made the community meeting held last Thursday
(March 3) all the more sweet. More than 100 people turned out to applaud
plans for an upscale shopping center along the eastern edge of MacArthur
near South Grand Avenue [see Todd Spivak, “Man with a plan,”
Feb. 24].

Todd Smith, president of Springfield-based Garrison
Group Inc., has proposed building a cluster of low-density redbrick
buildings that would house about a dozen businesses, including local
grocery Food Fantasies and possibly a Starbucks.

The new development calls for Leland Avenue to be
extended across MacArthur and for the 1930s-era Esquire Theatre to be
razed. Support for the project was near-unanimous.